The registers of all shipments from Filipinas shall be opened in
the port of Acapulco, by the person to whom the viceroy of Nueva
España entrusts it, and the officials of our royal treasury of the
said port. They together shall examine and investigate the bales
and boxes, and shall make as close and careful an examination as
shall be necessary to discover what may have come outside of the
register and permission. They shall send the registers to Méjico,
as has been the custom, with all investigations made at the port of
Acapulco, by a sufficiently trustworthy person, or by one of our
said officials. In Méjico everything shall be again investigated,
and the duties appertaining to us shall be appraised and collected;
and all other investigations requisite to ascertain and discover
what has come unregistered shall be made. All that shall have been
sent without register and in violation of the prohibition shall be
confiscated. No permission shall be given by this means, pretext,
and occasion, to cause any unreasonable injury to the owners of
the goods. [Felipe III--Valladolid, December 31, 1604; San Lorenzo,
April 22, 1608; clause xi.]